explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:399: Travelling Salesman Problem

2014-08-19T06:36:51Z

141.101.85.199:

Does anyone remember if the Brown Hat appears in any other comics?
: I'm not sure, so I created a category and page for him, let's see if that catches any others. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 22:04, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
::According to the transcript we have two different Brown Hat Guys here. I'm working on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:49, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
:::I'm inclined to think that Brown Hat is specific to this comic, the brown hat being the 50's style homburg or fedora common to salesmen trying to look respectable... Randall likely added the hats to depict folks from a bygone era, (one of whom has caught up with the trend.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:49, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

It's probably not in the least important, but the network appears to be a collection of key cities in the US arranged by geographical location. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 23:07, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

added a better explanation of the title text. -- Nick,5 Oct 2013 {{unsigned ip|69.193.7.67}}

Has anyone answered the question in the title text? --[[User:Ricketybridge|Ricketybridge]] ([[User talk:Ricketybridge|talk]]) 23:55, 9 January 2014 (UTC)
:"it is bitter news that in the forty years since Held and Karp no better guarantee <nowiki>[than n^2.2^n]</nowiki> has been found for the problem" [http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/tsp/methods/progress/progress.htm]. So whereas linear programming techinques tend to be quicker than other algorithms, they have not been shown to be better than O(n^2.2^n).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't someone at ebay still have to solve the TSP? I guess that's the entire point though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.223|141.101.85.223]] 08:48, 27 July 2014 (UTC)
:No because you can send your sales information to all customers at once because they come to you, electronically. It takes no longer for you to be viewed by 100 people than by one person. Thus O(1). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
::I never used ebay so I don't know how it works and I'm probably missing something obvious. (Maybe it should be explained at the explanation?) If you wanted to personally sell about 17 items to 17 cities like the guy on the left, you have to visit each city by car or something. How does ebay visit the 17 cities to send the items?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.199|141.101.85.199]] 06:34, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Talk:399: Travelling Salesman Problem

2014-08-19T06:34:45Z

141.101.85.199:

Does anyone remember if the Brown Hat appears in any other comics?
: I'm not sure, so I created a category and page for him, let's see if that catches any others. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 22:04, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
::According to the transcript we have two different Brown Hat Guys here. I'm working on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:49, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
:::I'm inclined to think that Brown Hat is specific to this comic, the brown hat being the 50's style homburg or fedora common to salesmen trying to look respectable... Randall likely added the hats to depict folks from a bygone era, (one of whom has caught up with the trend.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:49, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

It's probably not in the least important, but the network appears to be a collection of key cities in the US arranged by geographical location. [[Special:Contributions/130.160.145.185|130.160.145.185]] 23:07, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

added a better explanation of the title text. -- Nick,5 Oct 2013 {{unsigned ip|69.193.7.67}}

Has anyone answered the question in the title text? --[[User:Ricketybridge|Ricketybridge]] ([[User talk:Ricketybridge|talk]]) 23:55, 9 January 2014 (UTC)
:"it is bitter news that in the forty years since Held and Karp no better guarantee <nowiki>[than n^2.2^n]</nowiki> has been found for the problem" [http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/tsp/methods/progress/progress.htm]. So whereas linear programming techinques tend to be quicker than other algorithms, they have not been shown to be better than O(n^2.2^n).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't someone at ebay still have to solve the TSP? I guess that's the entire point though. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.223|141.101.85.223]] 08:48, 27 July 2014 (UTC)
:No because you can send your sales information to all customers at once because they come to you, electronically. It takes no longer for you to be viewed by 100 people than by one person. Thus O(1). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.55|141.101.98.55]] 17:05, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
::I never used ebay so I don't know how it works and I'm probably missing something obvious. (Maybe it should be explained at the explanation?) If you wanted to personally sell about 17 items to 17 cities like the guy on the left, you have to visit each city by car or something. How does ebay visit the 17 cities?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.85.199|141.101.85.199]] 06:34, 19 August 2014 (UTC)